Residents in Castletown have established the Castletown Community Action Group that they have said has been established to campaign for a cleaner, safer, healthier Castletown.
As part of the town’s west ward for Penrith Town Council one of the three Penrith Town Councillors has established the group, Cllr Jeff Thomson has said “Castletown has industrial estates and an animal rendering plant on its doorstep, plus a busy B5288 road which carries traffic, including heavy vehicles, through its residential streets.”
Following a summer community meeting, residents have now formed the Castletown Community Action Group. “Many residents feel they are not being listened to, or consulted, on issues which affect their everyday lives and their environment from industrial pollution and CO2 emissions to planning applications and road speeds,” said a spokesperson for the group.
The group has a six-person management committee including Penrith West ward Town Council member, councillor Jeff Thomson, as chair, along with five Castletown residents.
It’s not known if the town council, other town councillors or Westmorland and Furness councillors are part of the new group.
councillor Thomson has publicly expressed his views that the town council is not fit for purpose and failing residents since his election in May 2023 including walking out of multiple town council meeting and resigning from the town council planning committee.
The local group Evolve Penrith has been calling for a review of the town Council and put forward proposals to create replacement parish councils across six areas of Penrith that make up the current wards of the town council including Castletown and Carleton Village that it says would benefit from having their own parish councils focused on the communities and costing households much less in council tax precepts each year.
Penrith Town Council was created in 2015 following two previous polls in 2001 and 2008 resulted in residents rejecting the creation of a town council.
A petition in 2012 with just 1529 names was presented to the former Eden District Council that resulted in Eden Council conducting a community governance review and postal poll asking if a town council should be created.
Of 12,196 residents in Penrith that could vote in July 2014 only 5,089 took part only representing only 40% of Penrith residents registered to vote,
With 3311 voting Yes and 1764 voting No to the creation of a Town council.
In 2014 residents in Penrith were told as part of the community governance review that a town council would cost them an extra £21 per year on the council tax for a Band D property.
With the current Band D Penrith Town Council precept costing residents £83 a year.
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